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Textiles

The 50,000 objects in the textile collections fall into two main categories: raw fibers, yarns, and fabrics, and machines, tools, and other textile technology. Shawls, coverlets, samplers, laces, linens, synthetics, and other fabrics are part of the first group, along with the 400 quilts in the National Quilt Collection. Some of the Museum's most popular artifacts, such as the Star-Spangled Banner and the gowns of the first ladies, have an obvious textile connection.

The machinery and tools include spinning wheels, sewing machines, thimbles, needlework tools, looms, and an invention that changed the course of American agriculture and society. A model of Eli Whitney's cotton gin, made by the inventor in the early 1800s, shows the workings of a machine that helped make cotton plantations profitable in the South and encouraged the spread of slavery.

Emily Holbert put not only her name, date, and location on this quilt, but also two maxims that held significance for her. Boldly and precisely appliquéd in the border: “INDUSTRY, AND PROPER IMPROVEMENT OF TIME 1847 VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY. EMILY HOLBERT’S QUILT; WORKED JANUARY, A.D. 1847. CHESTER, ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.” “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” is from Ecclesiastes I:2. “Industry, and proper improvement of time are the duties of the young” was an expression that could be found in mid-nineteenth-century school books. Similar religious and moralistic sayings are found on samplers, embroidered pictures, and other needlework items, that were made by young women in the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries.

This quilt consists of twenty 14-inch blocks, each appliquéd with a medallion surrounded by three-lobed leaves, iris, and tulip motifs. The blocks are set with a 2-inch printed green sashing. The 9¾-inch-wide border contains the appliquéd inscriptions on all four sides of the quilt, sandwiched between a band of appliquéd leaf, tulip, and cherry motifs and a pieced sawtooth edge. Roller-printed fabrics are used for the appliqué work; the lining is white cotton with a cotton filling. All the appliquéd motifs, letters, and numbers are outline-quilted, and the leaves have quilted veins. Open spaces are filled with quilted motifs of scrolls, botehs, oak leaves, and hearts; 8 stitches per inch.

Emily Holbert, born October 15, 1820, was the daughter of James Holbert (1788-1871) and Susan Drake Holbert (1791-1851 or 1854). Emily was born and lived in Chester, Orange County, New York. On October 30, 1851 she married Theodore Finch, son of John and Catherine Anne Woodward Finch. Theodore was born about 1827 and died in January 1852 at the age of 24, a few months after his marriage to Emily.

There is no record that Emily remarried, and she died in 1858, only six years after Theodore. In 1988, the quilt she so proudly put her name to was donated to the Smithsonian by Mr. and Mrs. John Beard Ecker. Emily Holbert was Mrs. Theodora Ecker’s great-aunt. At the same time another quilt from the same family, Susan Holbert’s “Little Sister’s" quilt, was also presented to the Museum.

Stenciled in the center of the lining of this quilt is “S. T. Holbert” which stands for Susan Theresa Holbert. Her older sister, Emily, made another quilt in the Smithsonian’s collection, the “Vanity of Vanities” quilt.” Might Emily have made this quilt for her younger sister as well? Or were they both accomplished quilt makers?

The center of the quilt is a sunburst or star 26½ inches in diameter, pieced of triangles and diamonds. Sixteen appliquéd feathered plumes emerge from the outer edge of the sunburst. Between the plumes are sixteen small 4-inch pieced sunbursts. A 3/8-inch band of red cotton print separates the field from the border. Along the inner edge of this band are birds with flowers and buds, and in each of the four inner corners is a pieced and appliquéd “Carolina Lily” block. The 7½-inch border contains an appliquéd undulating oak leaf vine.

The fabrics used are roller- and discharge-printed cottons. The quilt has a filling of cotton with a white cotton lining. All the pieced and appliquéd motifs have double-outline quilting and the open spaces are filled with motifs of flowers, running vines, leaves, sprigs, fleur-de-lis, botehs, and hearts; each quilted 8 stitches to the inch. This quilt’s dramatic design incorporates a popular mid-19th century motif: plumes or the “Princess Feather” pattern, in the then-fashionable red and green color combination.

Susan Theresa Holbert was born in Chester, Orange County, New York, on February 24, 1834. She was the daughter of James Holbert, a farmer, and Susan Drake Holbert. They had another daughter, Teresa, who died in 1816 at the age of three and Susan was probably named after her. Susan married William Alfred Lawrence in 1861, and they had a son, Theodore (1862-1947). Susan died in 1871. This quilt was donated to the Smithsonian by Mr. and Mrs. John Beard Ecker. Mrs Theodora Ecker is Susan’s granddaughter. At the same time another quilt from the same family, Emily Holbert’s “Vanity of Vanities” quilt, was also donated to the Smithsonian.